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Farewell Winamp April 21, 1987 – December 20, 2013

“Winamp.com and associated web services will no longer be available past December 20, 2013. Additionally, Winamp Media players will no longer be available for download. Please download the latest version before that date”

Ever since I started using Windows XP almost a decade ago, Winamp has always been the default music player on my PC. Every time I do a re-install of Windows, among the apps, or software as we used to call it back then, that gets installed first is Winamp.

Back in 2005, it was the default music player for every one. My friends, at the school PC lab and even the local PC cafes were using it too.
Heck, I even created custom skins to dress up Winamp on my PC. When I started using Linux, I ran a version of Winamp using Wine. To this day, Winamp is still the default music app on my notebook whenever I use Windows.

Winamp with a custom skin based on the Gundam Wing series

The turning point was when I started using an Android phone. Downloading the Winamp app came on instinct. But the app back then was slow and buggy I switched to the default music app for Froyo back then. Though I still kept Winamp and updated it from time to time.

As I started to use Linux more and more, I dropped Wiamp-on-Wine and switched to Rhythmbox to Banshee then back to Rhythmbox again as I went through updated Ubuntu versions.

Now that I listen to music on my phone more than I do on my notebook PC, Winamp has been relegated to just another app in my Start Menu. It’s still the default music app, but only when I get the time to listen to the music on my Windows PC.

It’s the same situation on my Android phone. I always used the main music app that came with the LG, HTC and Nexus phones I’ve come to own and even though I installed the Winamp app on each, it has taken the role of a backup app, never the star player.

Have I lost faith in Winamp? I don’t think so. I still believe it’s one of the best music apps to come around and it deserves its place in history of digital music. Like all good things, it too has to come to an end. Though most would agree, AOL is partly to blame for its demise. Still, thank you to the Nullsoft team for the 15 years of whippin’ the Llamas’ ass.

You can download the latest version of Winamp while it’s still available here.